On the Horizon: What’s next for Pixar?

Pixar Animation Studios has carved out a stellar reputation over the years with critically acclaimed films such as the “Toy Story” trilogy, “Finding Nemo,” “The Incredibles” and “Up.” Pixar has been the gold standard of consistency, with a catalog of box office hits and little if any misses.

Beginning with “Cars” in 2006, the studio settled into a groove of releasing a feature film each year, until now. This year will be a quiet one on the Pixar front. So what projects are they working on that moviegoers can look forward to down the road in 2015?

“Inside Out” is the next feature film set to be released by Pixar. Academy award-winning director and writer Pete Docter (“Up,” “Monsters, Inc.”) sits at the helm of this project, which explores the mind of an 11-year old named Riley.

Riley’s mind is home to five different emotions – Joy, Fear, Anger, Disgust and Sadness- that help guide her from a central hub called Headquarters. When Riley moves across the country to San Francisco, she struggles to adjust to her new surroundings, which causes a conflict between the emotions on how to navigate the new environment. Joy, the main emotion, attempts to maintain a positive outlook, but she has her work cut out for her.

During a presentation at the Annency Intl. Animation Film Festival in June, Docter told those in attendance that the film is based on the emotional shift that children experience as they grow older, according to Variety. It looks like this film follows in the footsteps of the Pixar classics before it, which all contained an underlying message that everyone could relate to.

“Lava”- Expected U.S. release date: June 19, 2015

In addition to feature films, Pixar has a deep catalog of short films and “Lava” is the next in line. “Lava” opens in theaters in front of “Inside Out.”

James Ford Murphy directs this short, which centers on a volcano named Uku that sings about finding love with another volcano while isolated in the ocean. Murphy’s affinity for Hawaii served as the inspiration for what is described as “a musical love story that takes place over millions of years.”

“The Good Dinosaur”- Expected U.S. release date: November 25, 2015

“The Good Dinosaur” was initially slated to be released this year, but it was pushed back to 2015 after changes to the director spot, making it the first time Pixar has scheduled two feature films in the same year. And in an interview with Collider last month, actor John Lithgow, who voices Poppa in the film, revealed that the story has undergone drastic changes and he’ll have to re-record all his lines again.

“I recorded the entire role in ‘Good Dinosaur.'” Lithgow said. “They have now dismantled it and completely reimagined it, and it is a fantastic new story. So I’m gonna record again on it within the next month. Don’t worry. It’s coming, and it’s gonna be better than I ever imagined.”

The premise of the movie is unclear because of the aforementioned changes, but Lithgow’s character, Poppa, is the father of the film’s main character, Arlo. They are both dinosaurs in a world where dinosaurs and humans coexist. We’ll keep you updated when a firmer synopsis is made available.

However, with Pixar’s track record, we should expect nothing but quality from these upcoming projects. Now we wait until 2015.